Leaping into history: Barshim nears world high jump record

Qatar’s Mutaz Barshim fended off a stacked high jump field as his world lead clearance of 2.41 metres was good enough to take victory in the Rome Diamond League.

Barshim’s failure at 2.43m left world champion Bohdan Bondarenko with the chance to snatch victory, but the Ukrainian narrowly clipped the bar with his final attempt.The pair were joined by America’s Erik Kynard, Canada’s Derek Druoin and Olympic champion Ivan Ukhov in one of the strongest fields ever assembled.

With the five athletes expected to push each other to new heights, it seems inevitable that Javier Sotomayor’s longstanding world record of 2.45m will be eclipsed in 2014.